Databases

Databases

By Naveena Bellam, Ryan Hallinan, Joseph Marks, and Brett Merriam



Introduction to Databases

    Databases are a collection of organized information that categorizes its content into relevant information. Data about cats will be found with other data about cats. Data about dogs will fall under other data about dogs. Both of these would fall under data about animals. A database base system is expected to be of high quality. By following the database management system, this is measured by accuracy of data and the availability and usability of the data. These databases are located on servers. Databases management systems are general software programs that meet the requirements to manage a large and complex database system. Some of the most common database management system programs include: Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, PostgreSQL, MySQL, FoxPro, and SQLite. Databases databases are designed to work with a specific dbms but since the standards used between many of the listed dbms are similar, such as sql, and the programs are interchangeable.

    Databases are used everywhere, from school research, to business and work or to just common internet browsing. We need databases as a reliable way of quickly accessing information. We also need them to keep information secure. On top of that, we need them to be accurate. Our dbms's provides exactly that.



History of Databases

    Databases have been around since we started to write to later referred back to it for future generations. Some databases were used in the government offices, hospitals, business, and organizations. This essentially was the start of a library were you could share and learn about information. Database has been a concept for a long time.

    In the 1960’s we wanted to use this concept to put information in the computer memory so we could direct access it easily then going to a library looking through books to find your answer. This task would be difficult to do because of the little memory you had and the processors of the computer. These databases systems had several levels of quality in things like accuracy, usability, resilience, and availability. These databases were very complex and had to be properly maintained.


Real World Databases

    There are many different types of databases out there today. They have many purposes for each one. There is a scientific database that is used for genome research and related research area in molecular an cellular biology. This contains gene catalogs for completely sequenced genomes and some partial genomes, genome maps, and organism information, and data about sequence similarities among all known genes in all organism.

    Nonprofit organizations like having and antique automobile club and that these nonprofit organizations don’t have many members and that would make the database smaller than other databases. That it could store names addresses, color, year what condition it is in. It can also tell who owns it.

    Another real world database that I use almost every day is IMDB. This is International Movie Data Base that you can find almost any movie that was made. You can look up who is the actors on it, have a background of the movie/plot, trivia, goofs, quotes, and much more. It also shows what movies will be coming out in theaters in the near future. It also shows which movies/television season that had come out recently. IMDB shows what is also popular.

    There are many more like Google Cloud, HP Cloud, Microsoft Database, Oracle Database Cloud, IBM SmartCloud, Rackspace Cloud Databases, and many more.


Types of Databases

    There are different types of databases. They are:
  • Active Database: Database which includes an event driven architecture is called as Active Database. This type of database responds to both inside and outside conditions of database. This type of database is used in alerting, authorization, secure gathering etc.
  • Cloud Database: A database that runs on using the platforms such as GoGrid, Rackspace etc. is called as Cloud Database. There are two types of cloud databases namely relational database and non-relational database. Microsoft SQL server, Oracle database uses relational databases. Mongo DB, Apache Cassandra are other types of databases which runs on non-relational database.
  • Data warehouse: The database which is used to report and analysis data is called Data warehouse. To compare senior management reports annually and quarterly and also to store present and previous data this data warehouse is used. Data warehouse has data mart as the access layers which is used to supply the data to the users.
  • Distributed database: A database system in which storage devices such as DRAM or RAM are not directly attached to the CPU is called as Distributed database. This type of database system shares no physical components with the processors but has loosely coupled sites. This database can work on any type of servers such as internet etc. The two processors replication and duplication are used to check the up-to-date information of the database.
  • Document oriented database: The database specially designed to store and retrieve data is called as document oriented database. This particular type of database falls under non-relational database as in cloud database. This database uses query language to recruit documents to the users based on their components.
  • Embedded database: The database system which is linked with the application software which is used to store data is called as embedded database. This specific database system comes under broad technology category. There are any major products included in this type of database systems such as Berkeley DB, CSQL, Solid DB etc.
  • End-user database: Individual end-users develop data which is present in End-user database. Presentations, documents, spreadsheets etc. come under this type of database.
  • Federated database and multi-database: A database which is made up by combining various distinct databases is called as federated database. These databases are connected internally with help of computer network. A less integrated database which is used as synonym of federated database is called as multi-database.
  • Graph database: The database which uses graphical structures to show and save information is called as graph database.
    Apart from all the above databases there are also few other databases such as Hypermedia, Hypertext, and In-memory.


Database Language

    The programming languages that are used to define, work and inquire a database are called as database language. Each database language is based on specific data structure.

    There are few examples of database languages they are:

SQL

    This Structured Query Language is a language used especially for relational database management system. The following is the example of SQL database


http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sql+database&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1366&bih=646&tbm=isch&tbnid=PzQl5m6wMkpHKM:&imgrefurl=http://www.commsvr.com/Howitworks/Howto/OPCSQL.aspx&docid=AFsKQwkAawdpHM&imgurl=http://www.commsvr.com/Portals/1/P_Products/P_DataPorter/dataporter_SQL400.png&w=400&h=317&ei=t_nAUOaDPeag2gW_tIHoBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1073&vpy=335&dur=37&hovh=200&hovw=252&tx=125&ty=200&sig=117560364018655179296&page=1&tbnh=143&tbnw=186&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:0,i:180


    The subsets of the SQL language are:
  • Clauses
  • Expressions
  • Predicates
  • Queries
  • Statements
OQL

    The standard query language for object oriented databases is called as Object Query Language. The following is the example of OQL language.

 


Future of Databases

    As of today, the year 2012, we have devices that are always connected. We as humans are more connected to the world around us than we have ever been in history, all thanks to the Internet. Devices that can give you directions to anywhere around the world, applications that can track your every movement minute by minute, music players that can create personalized playlists of ones choosing, and most importantly, access to the internet wherever and whenever you want via Wi-Fi or through cellular service. All of these services utilize some sort of database to sort and store user information and movement through their system, and these systems are just in their infancy. Databases are in our everyday life with or without us realizing that that is what we are using. Your music playlists on your device are small portable databases that are always on and always with you. The menus that are used thousands of times a day in restaurants are part of a database, albeit an analog database, but nonetheless a database that we use every day. This is just the beginning when it comes to what databases can be used for when it comes to technology. In the next decade we could see the creation of database systems that allow you to ask your device to schedule and appointment with your doctor or dentist, make a payment on a credit card just thorough voice commands, ask your device to play music based on your mood. All these ideas could be brought to life by the use of smarter, more efficient databases that store user preferences and make smarter judgments about what the user wants based on their style and mood. When we look even farther into the future, humans could be integrated even more so by combining processors with the brain to create a connection to the Internet and databases just by thought. The idea is that we could do every day activities with just our thoughts. Things like ordering take-out, starting your car through your wireless device, or asking Google to search the score of the game, all through an imbedded processor in our brains. This last idea seems extreme by our standards to say, but in ten or twenty years time, the ideas and opportunities are endless. Databases are just in their infancy, and the sky is the limit on what they can be used for in this growing technological age.


Conclusion

    Databases have evolved steadily through the evolution of humanity. From libraries to lunch menus, to the Internet and iTunes, databases have evolved and revolutionized the way we live our lives, and the way we connect to the rest of the world. We as a society have gone from having to leave our homes to do everything from going to the library to do research, purchasing groceries, buying a new car, seeing the world, to being able to, through the use of smarter and smarter databases, do all the things that were mentioned before and then some. Society and technologies, like databases have made it perfectly acceptable, and possible, to do everything from your home computer or wireless device. Only time will tell what the future holds, and with the way that database technology has been improving and revolutionizing the way we live, there is no way to be certain what we will be able to do through their use.


Works Cited

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database#Database_languages

(2012, October 10). OQL Database Language. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OQL

(2012, October 10). SQL Data Types. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL#Data_types

(2012, October 10). Database Type Examples. Retrieved from,

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(2012, October 10). Cloud Database. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_database

(2012, October 10). Active Database. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_database

(2012, October 10).Data Mart. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mart

(2012, October 10). Data Warehouse. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_warehouse

(2012, October 10). Distributed Database. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_database

(2012, October 10). Document-Oriented Database. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document-oriented_database

(2012, October 10). Embedded Database. Retrieved from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_database

 

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(2012, October 10). Types of Databases. Retrieved from,

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http://gigaom.com/cloud/cloud-databases-101-who-builds-em-and-what-they-do/

 

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http://www.imdb.com/

 

Barry Williams (2012). The Future of Databases; The Vision. Retrieved from

 

http://www.databaseanswers.org/Future_of_Databases/the_vision.htm

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